Deciding On Decluttering

Well, now I’m getting impatient. I don’t want to go slowly. I want to get rid of a lot of stuff, now. Why? Mainly because I’m tired of dusting knick-knacks that we no longer see and books that nobody’s touched in ages.

What’s stopping me?

So, why don’t I get busy and declutter? First of all, guilt. I would like nothing more than to clear off all the bookcases and give them away. Okay, maybe not all, but at least the two tall ones. (We have two short ones in addition, not counting the other tall bookcase that currently serves as the kitchen pantry.)

BUT…what if B could use some of the books we have on those shelves when he grows up? Should we save them for him? As far as that goes, what about the homeschooling books I bought which now sit neglected (because we’re unschooling)? Do I keep them just in case, in four or five years, he wants to formally teach himself all the map skills or all the clever ways there are to do long division?

And he might want the bookcases, too. Maybe I should just wait until he moves out when he’s thirty-five, and then redo the house the way I want.

The second thing stopping me is Patchy. You probably don’t remember we have a pet rat. She’s going to be our very last pet rat, but in the meantime, she has at least a year of life left in her (barring any tumors or illnesses) and her cage takes up space on a wall that could be used to place other furniture.

In addition, when she was younger she (and her friend who died this past summer) would get up on the bookshelves and chew whatever their little teeth desired. So I purposely packed all the bottom shelves full so that she can’t climb up on them.

The third thing stopping me is J. He seems intent on keeping certain books, saying he’ll get around to reading them one day when B is older. But these days J has a lot of spare time, and he doesn’t spend any of it reading any of the books on the bookcases in the living room area.

Knocking out the objections

*1 – Saving things for our son.

One day, he’ll have a Kindle. And if I really want to bless him with helpful material on parenting or spirituality or whatever, I can spend $50-$100 to buy him the digital versions of the several books in question.

As he gets older, I am going to strongly encourage him to “go tiny.” He may end up being one of those people who lives out of a camper van. However he may decide to live tiny, he would definitely not need bookcases.

Also, if he does want a bigger house, he’ll be able to build his own bookcases!

As for the homeschooling stuff, there’s this thing called the Internet. Anything he wants or needs to learn, he can find it online.

*2 – Patchy taking up space.

First, her cage doesn’t take up that much space. And I’m fine with waiting until her demise to use the space for something other than her cage.

Second, I’m not sure she’s into climbing onto shelves anymore. She never even tries to get up on the places that are still open to her. Whether I finally trained her with my loud clapping accompanied by a “No!”, or whether her middle-aged self is just getting too tired to climb around, I don’t think that’s a viable reason for me not to declutter.

*3 – My book-clinging husband.

There’s room for a few of his books that are currently housed in the living room on the shelves above our bed.

The ones he rarely touches but wants to keep could go in a box which could be stored in the new closet/wardrobe J is building for us.

Time to get to work!

Okay, I think I’ve convinced myself that I can go ahead and get rid of yet more unused items from our house. Photos and explanations of the declutter process/possible redecorating coming up!